Chapter Twenty Six -   Hello?

"Hey you should start saying something to me," Sunggyu chuckled as our taxi turned to the freeway. 

I gazed out the window with my arms crossed in front of my chest. I refused to talk to him. 

"Nara," he called, glancing at me once in a while.

I took out my phone and started refreshing my twitter page although there were no new updates. Then I switched to my other social media pages and did the same thing. 

"I'm only doing this because it's the appropriate thing to do," I finally said, my eyes still pinned on my phone.

Sunggyu laughed a little, "Oh finally. It's really weird to not listen to your voice for the whole day," 

I rolled my eyes and crossed my leg, "Yeah," 

"Why are you so mad?" 

"I told you, I'm not mad," 

"Then why are you not talking?" 

"I'm just... Disappointed," I bit my lips and gazed down. 

"Look Nara, I told them okay?" 

"What did they say?" I directed my eyes on him.

"We'll miss you, good luck, and all of those things. Okay, the point is that-" 

"They care Sunggyu, they care," I cut him off. 

"Fine, fine," he sighed. 

The ride went quiet again until we reached the airport. The two of us got off after I paid for the cab. It was weird really, I was expecting myself to be shedding tears after tears on the day Sunggyu would be going, but no. I helped him with his two huge luggages and went inside the premise. 

We stood there, the both of us, facing each other, in front of the glass door that led to the check-in counter. I wasn't allowed to go pass through that door of course, and that was why we were quiet.

I shoved my hands into my jacket and rocked on my heels, "Call me when you've arrived yeah?" 

He nodded, "I will," 

Silence. 

"It's a shame I can't see you perform in the arts festival," I said quietly.

"Yeah, it's a shame," 

I sighed and bit my lips, "Good luck Sunggyu," I patted his shoulder. 

"I hope you can survive without me Nara," 

I laugh sarcastically and made a face, "Well I hope you can live without me. You can't open my fridge anymore," 

He rolled his eyes and scoffed, "Well-" 

He paused. He stopped speaking so abruptly that I frowned and directed my gaze to where his eyes were pinned at. I looked back and then it was my turn to freeze.

I frowned and looked back to Sunggyu, "What is she doing here?" 

"I think she wants to bid me a goodbye," Sunggyu scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.

I arched my eyebrows, "You told her didn't you?" 

Sunggyu blinked twice. 

"You told her!"

"Whoa, okay, let's not start a big fuss in the airport," he spoke, "I told her, yeah- oh hi Minjae, you came," 

I shook my head and pinched my arms silently, it wasn't a dream. Who would expect Sunggyu to tell Minjae when he, in the first place, was reluctant to even inform the group and his family. 

"Hello Sunggyu," she spoke awkwardly, "And Nara," 

"You came," I echoed what Sunggyu just said since... Well, I had no idea what to say. 

Minjae was wearing her knitted pink beanie which we bought together at Gangnam, it costed quite a lot by the way. Her petite figure was covered in the thick bright turquoise coat, combined with the black leggings on her leg. On the first impression, I didn't think she was still mourning. But it was of course, still awkward.

"Thanks for coming Minjae," Sunggyu said and hugged her. 

"Sure thing, make sure you'll call me when you arrive," 

They broke their hug and Sunggyu eyed me, and back to Minjae. And back to me.

Then this marvelous idea of his jumped out of his mouth, "Oh! How about, the both of you wait together until I call?" 

I scoffed and laughed. That was lame Sunggyu. Really lame. 

"Oh,"

"Oh," 

I looked at Minjae and she was looking at me as well. Now that was weird. I was expecting to be crying and being sad at this moment, not being super awkward.  

"Okay," Sunggyu sighed and bit his lips, "I think I have to go now," 

I frowned and nod once, "Right. You have to go now," 

"Are you not going to hug me?" 

I rolled my eyes but wrapped my arms around his waist. Puberty made him waaay taller than me. We used to have the same height. 

We let go of the hug and finally, it was time for Sunggyu to part from us. 

"Don't smoke. Don't do tattoos, and don't be a drug dealer," I said.

He laughed and patted my head, "We'll see," 

And with that said, he went through the glass door which parted the both of us- I mean, the three of us.

I'll fast forward our story here since me and Minjae were... You know... Awky-doky for the next seven minutes or so, and I bet you don't wanna know how I endured all the awkwardness. 

"Hey Nara," she called. 

"Yeah?"

"Wanna get some coffee?"

-***- 

"So, basically, when you're on a high ground, there will be gravitational potential energy, but when you're moving, the energy would be in the kinetic form. But, still, because energy- Nara, are you listening?"  

I gazed up at Myungsoo, "Huh?" 

He arched his eyebrows. 

"Oh yeah, I'm listening," I was immediately pulled out from my reverie. I was of course, wasn't listening. Well, how was I supposed to listen to him when I was able to take the chance to stare at his handsome face and daydream. 

"Your exam's tomorrow," he scolded. 

I sighed defeatedly, "I know,"

We looked at each other. I was, still, enjoying the beautiful scene in front of me (Myungsoo, that was), while he was wondering what to do with this hopeless girl in front of him. Hey, it wasn't like I want to fail this exam. But like I've said before, physics isn't just my thing. 

He glanced at his watch before suggesting, "Okay, how about this. We'll take a stroll outside for an hour,"

"A stroll?" I widened my eye, "But I have to study- I mean, yeah, I have to study, tomorrow's the exam," It was my turn to be panicky. 

He smirked and clicked his tongue, "Then let's study while having a stroll," 

He stood up and smiled, "Come on, trust me," 

I had no choice but to follow him. I put on my coat and boots before stepping out. Autumn was going to end soon. 

Myungsoo his lips before saying, "Do you wanna have coffee?" 

"Coffee?" 

Dude, my test's tomorrow and there were we, relaxing as if the next day was sunday. 

"Yeah," he chuckled as we went out the building, "Or do we want to go for the park?"

"The park," I decided. 

"Okay, we'll walk there," he nodded. 

And so, we did. The freezing wind blew against my face that it was suffocating me. There was almost zero people walking on the street and the reason was obvious. It was really chilly. 

Myungsoo, being a gentleman, switched places with me subtly- although I noticed- so that he was at the side closer to the main road. 

"You see Nara," he started, "The wind here is blowing against us right?"

I nodded. Yeah, everyone knows that. 

"This is one example of force, air resistance," 

I widened my eye and smiled once I realized what he was doing. 

"Ahh, I understand what you're trying to do right now," I chortled. 

He shrugged and laughed, "It's a little stupid, I know. But these kind of things helps me a lot," 

I patted his shoulder, "Thanks for the effort," 

"No biggie," 

So I studied that way with Myungsoo, and it helped, really. 

That was why Yuri was whining and pouting at me when I finally got 70 in my physics exam, and you couldn't imagine how elated I was. 

It was in the midsts of the year break that we had to go school to receive our results. My break consisted of going back home to meet mom and dad, having video calls with Sunggyu, and being bored. My mom told me to start looking for majors and my dad told me to stop being so stressed up with studies, and I told them I was confused. I hung out with the group, accompanied Minjae for shopping and spent one of my weekends with Myungsoo. The break was... Okay, I guess.

Anyway, back to my very beautiful physics result. 

"Wow, what happened to you?" Minjae asked from behind and I was just grinning. 

"Oh, good things you know," I said, "How much did you get?" 

She scrunched up her nose and flipped her test paper. 69. 

"Ha! I won,"

"Luck Nara, it's called luck," she stuck out her tongue and I rolled my eyes. 

I swirled around and tapped on Sungyeol's shoulder, "How much?"

"You don't wanna see my marks," his lips tugged into a small smirk. 

"Oh please," I immediately stood up and snatched his paper.

"Yah!" 

He got 89. I face palmed myself. Of course, why would I beat Sungyeol in physics?

He grabbed the paper from my hand and smiled, "I told you you will regret," 

I grunted. The teacher told us to give our test papers back and asked if there was any problem. Yuri was busy looking for loopholes so that she could get higher marks. We used to so that together but today, since I was still in the process of believing my mark, I did not bother to check.  

Soon, all my test results were distributed. My average grade was about 75 percent and I was placed on the eight position throughout the whole first years. It was quite good and I was satisfied. My hard work on studying wasn't a waste. 

"Hey, do you want to eat and hang out somewhere?" Sungyeol asked as we packed our bags.

"Who else is joining?" I asked, zipping my bag. 

"Myungsoo and Sungjong. The others are dating," he complained, "You'll leave me soon," 

"Ah I won't leave you," I punched him slightly, "Oh! Minjae, do you want to join us eat?" I swirled around and asked.

She gave me a sad smile and shook her head, "Nah, I'm eating with Eunji," 

I faked a smile and nodded, "Alright, cool. We'll go first yeah?" 

"Sure, take care!"

I walked out the class with Sungyeol who had his long arms around my neck. Myungsoo and Sungjong was already waiting outside the class with their bags clung. 

"Minjae's not coming?" 

I shook my head. Myungsoo subtly brushed Sungyeol's hand away from my shoulder and replaced it with his. It made my heart did all kinds of those somersaults, but of course I acted- tried to act- naturally. Sungyeol told me that skinship was very normal for a Kim Myungsoo. 

We dropped by in a restaurant about thirty minutes away from school, so we practically had plenty of time chatting and all on the way there. Sungyeol was the one driving with Myungsoo beside him. Me and Sungjong were seated behind. 

"How's Sunggyu hyung?" Sungyeol asked, and I thought I saw a glimpse of eagerness in Sungjong's eye. 

"He's starting school today," I answered casually while making a mental note to ask Sunggyu about his day at dusk. You see, the time lag wasn't really helpful. It , really. 

"Is he happy there?" Myungsoo asked.

"He says he's intimidated by the tall population," I chortled, remembering what we talked about on the previous night. 

"At least he's still surviving there," Sungyeol commented and parked his car. 

We hopped off, Myungsoo opening my door. I mumbled a faint thank you and we went in. 

After ordering several finger dishes and a green tea latte for myself, we picked a seat for the four of us just beside the window, at the corner.

"The Minjae mission isn't going well huh?" Sungjong started the deep topic, I guess, very casually.

Sungyeol eyed on me for a while before saying, "Not really," 

"She looks fine though," Myungsoo commented. 

"I don't know," I drank my tea, "I mean... It's just so hard to understand her," 

My phone shrilled suddenly. I looked at the caller's ID and found out it was an unknown number. I frowned. I was freaking out at the same time since I didn't want to deal with weird stuffs, you see. 

"Who is it?" Myungsoo took a peak and I shrugged my shoulders. 

I swiped the screen and answered it, "Hello?" 

"Is this Song Nara?" A light female voice asked.

I tried to remember whose voice it was, but it didn't sound familiar at all. How did she even know my name. Call me weird, but I was kinda freaking out.

"Yeah, who is this?" 

"Oh, I'm Kim Sunggyu's sister, Kim Jieun, can we meet up?" 

I bit my lips and took a glance at the others who were looking back at me, "Sure."